Forest Ecology and Management Programs

​Point Blue has been at the forefront of forest ecology in the Sierra Nevada since 2002. That’s when we started our partnership with researchers from the U.S. Forest Service and the Universities of California at Davis and Berkeley to launch an ambitious research project to evaluate the success of different forest management strategies. Our goal is to understand how to reduce threats of catastrophic fire while promoting forest health and sustaining local economies in the Northern Sierra Nevada.

In the Sierra Nevada, the restoration and management of aspen habitat has become a priority for land managers, and a vital part of effective aspen management is developing a monitoring and adaptive feedback framework. Since 2004, we have monitored birds across aspen habitat in the Lassen National Forest, the Inyo National Forest, and other forests across the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Point Blue also works to restore mountain meadows, land that supports several rare and declining species and that is utilized at some point during the year by almost every bird species that breeds in or migrates through the Sierra, including declining and threatened species such as the Sandhill Crane, Swainson's Thrush, Yellow Warbler, and Willow Flycatcher.

A highlight of our work in this region is The Sierra Nevada Avian Monitoring Information Network (SNAMIN). We created this interactive website to give natural resource managers and other stakeholders across the Sierra quick and easy access to the data they need to make the informed adaptive forest management decisions, decisions that will guide land management and improve conservation outcomes for birds and the entire forest ecology system.

Through our long-term commitment to research in the Northern Sierra, Point Blue and our partners are helping inform forest management strategies for decades to come, helping ensure the health of the habitats that make up this wonderful ecosystem.